Owke, more & more rain is falling out of the sky...it just doesn't seem te stop. Result of this is that several boats are not leaving the shore, electricity goes on & off all of the time, 7eleven needs to barricade the door with sandbags to prevent the shop from flooding...anyway, it's getting everything BUT a nice, sunny, tropical paradise! Hell, if it was all good we would be hiding from the burning sun, now we hide from the rain...patato, patatoe... ;-) So we decided to just stick around until the weather improves (don't feel like puking for hours on the boat leaving the island). Weather is poor everywhere anyway, so we might as well stay here and read our books and do internet stuff here. We met another Belgian couple in the guesthouse. They decided to stay another day (or two) as well, since they didn't feel like going on to the ocean either on the only ferry that did leave today. So we decided to watch a movie together for a change, since we've been reading al day ;-)
27/03: More rain & no power, time on a island can be bliss! Right?
Picasa Album
Today was more of the same as the last days...more rain & lots of it! The extra for today was an additional full day power blackout, luckily 1min after finishing our hot shower ;-) So we read our books some more, played the crazy whack the bunny game, took a nap, read up in our guidebook, drank a beer & stared out into the storm. The sea is also too rough at this time for the boats to go out, so everyone is stuck on this island too...our original plan was leaving tomorrow, but it seems we maybe need to stay on Koh Phangan just a little bit longer. Anyway, wanna see how crazy the game is? See the video
Today was more of the same as the last days...more rain & lots of it! The extra for today was an additional full day power blackout, luckily 1min after finishing our hot shower ;-) So we read our books some more, played the crazy whack the bunny game, took a nap, read up in our guidebook, drank a beer & stared out into the storm. The sea is also too rough at this time for the boats to go out, so everyone is stuck on this island too...our original plan was leaving tomorrow, but it seems we maybe need to stay on Koh Phangan just a little bit longer. Anyway, wanna see how crazy the game is? See the video
26/03: Ocean dipping in the rain
Today we were woken again by the heavy rainfall. So we just slept a bit longer (good excuse, not? :-) ). When the rain got a bit less we got up, took a shower and went for breakfast: fruit, muesli, yoghurt. Heaven finally decided to stop crying for a while, so we quickly took a dip in the ocean. No sun, but warm and no rain. All is well ;-)
So we played with the waves, wind & the many beach dogs. Most of these dogs are actually nice & clean, although some are dirty & scruffy, looking more like goats than dogs? It's an island, so breeding option perhaps are limited?? After playing with the real dogs we finished our doggi puzzle that remained from yesterday. Succes at last!
We bought ourselves a little game in the local 7eleven to keep busy, whack the bunny! Couple of buttons that light up in some random sequence you need to push in time. First level is fun, 2nd is impossible. Maybe with some more practice we can get ahead in the game....to be continued. If we remember we'll try to post a video with the oooo so irritating sound. Once your in the game, you just don't care to be honest...:-)
Btw; Tonight is 1/2moon party night, a trance fest somewhere in the jungle, but since we are not cool we're not going :-) Also cause apparantly the music is poor & the crowd are raving idiots.
25/04: Puzzling away while watching the heaven cry
Picasa Album
No alarmclock! Bliss, so we stayed in bed until well over 10am...that has to be one of the max 5x on this trip, but this is partly why we have these last weeks, so we decided to use them. The weather still remains the same and is predicted to stay the same for days on end...woeptiedoe! So we watched the heaven cry it's hart out, dropping thick tears onto the tropical hills, converging into the fast flowing streams & waterfalls. Honestly, the constant sound you hear is of rain drops hitting the metal roofs & the water flowing down towards sea. The best way to spend the day was to start on our puzzle again...the little 3 dogs beat us on the train last time, surely they could not defeat us again? Well, yup, they could! :-) That little (500 pieces, so not sooo little) sweet little doggi puzzle is damn hard work! We ran out of daylight when it was almost finished so we have some work waiting for tomorrow. It will probably rain anyway, so that's another dry hour at least.
No alarmclock! Bliss, so we stayed in bed until well over 10am...that has to be one of the max 5x on this trip, but this is partly why we have these last weeks, so we decided to use them. The weather still remains the same and is predicted to stay the same for days on end...woeptiedoe! So we watched the heaven cry it's hart out, dropping thick tears onto the tropical hills, converging into the fast flowing streams & waterfalls. Honestly, the constant sound you hear is of rain drops hitting the metal roofs & the water flowing down towards sea. The best way to spend the day was to start on our puzzle again...the little 3 dogs beat us on the train last time, surely they could not defeat us again? Well, yup, they could! :-) That little (500 pieces, so not sooo little) sweet little doggi puzzle is damn hard work! We ran out of daylight when it was almost finished so we have some work waiting for tomorrow. It will probably rain anyway, so that's another dry hour at least.24/03: All sins are washed away in paradise!
Picasa Album
After the second time standing on the deck, throwing up, this big muscled guys who looked very tough, came back with a tissue and a bottle of water for me. Wow, how sweet! Tough on the outside, soft on the inside?
When we arrived at Koh Pha-ngan, it was very hot and the sun was shining. Well, that was decieving :-) Once we arrived at our guesthouse (with a really friendly host who is smiling all the time), it started to rain. In between rain showers, we were able to walk to a 7eleven to get something to drink and eat. After that we went back to our guesthouse and sat on our terrace to read something. We were back just in time, because then the sky bursted open!! Tropical rainshower it was! We were still tired from our journey to here, so we slept a couple of hours and then it was time to go for dinner. We just ate our guesthouse: yellow curry with chicken and pineapple and steamed rice. For the rest of the evening we will sit on the porch, drink something, listen to Tracy Chapman (good music taste they have :-) ).
After the second time standing on the deck, throwing up, this big muscled guys who looked very tough, came back with a tissue and a bottle of water for me. Wow, how sweet! Tough on the outside, soft on the inside?
When we arrived at Koh Pha-ngan, it was very hot and the sun was shining. Well, that was decieving :-) Once we arrived at our guesthouse (with a really friendly host who is smiling all the time), it started to rain. In between rain showers, we were able to walk to a 7eleven to get something to drink and eat. After that we went back to our guesthouse and sat on our terrace to read something. We were back just in time, because then the sky bursted open!! Tropical rainshower it was! We were still tired from our journey to here, so we slept a couple of hours and then it was time to go for dinner. We just ate our guesthouse: yellow curry with chicken and pineapple and steamed rice. For the rest of the evening we will sit on the porch, drink something, listen to Tracy Chapman (good music taste they have :-) ).
23/03: In search of tropical islands?
First day of really not having a bike anymore & leaving for the islands in the south. Last we checked islands should still be there, palms etc too, only the weather isn't collaborating and seems to have taken a totally out of season break. Showers, clouded & even a potential tropical storm are the forecasts?? Luckily we plan on spending a few days there, so hopefully we can also get some picture perfect days! Anyway, the bus from Bkk to Chumporn was a normal seating, but night, bus so we didn't get a lot of sleep there...had to move seat too, cause the aircon was leaking from the ceiling. Another bad point for bus riding vs biking ;-) After that it was onto a high speed catamaran to get to the islands. Remember the poor weater forecast? Yup, rough sea. Imagine about 100 people in a boat that's beating up & down with maybe 40 of them puking their guts out! :-)) Unfortunately Line was one of them :-( But she decided not to puke in a bag (so others can hear and see you puking), instead she went outside and used the ocean, twice.
22/03: biking around BKK trying to sell our bikes
This morning we went to a bikeshop which Ardan called yesterday, they were maybe interested in buying our bikes....When we got there and said our price (1000€, but negotiable) the guy quickly said that it was way too much. He could only offer us 125€...mmmm, not! Our bikebags alone are worth more than that! Thanked the guy and decided to try 1 more bikeshop. This guy didn't buy second hand bikes, but we could place the bikes in his bikeshop for sale. He would however ask us for 1000baht/bike to clean and check them and when he sells the bikes he would ask 10%. It's quite normal that he wants to have some money for it, but after talking with him for a while, he kinda convinced us that it was better to take them back home. We just wouldn't get the price we wanted here he said. So left the bikes & bags in the shop so they can pack them. Hopefully we don't need to sent stuff home through the post & we can take all our remaning luggage with us as cabine-luggage...Our bikebags are also getting packed in the bikebox package, so we needed to buy new bags for the remaining weeks of travel. In any case, dragging a bike bag along was not an option. So we set off & finally bought 2 Karana waterproof bags (30l & 40l) which we hope are big enough to get everything home, but not too big since it has to be allowed as handlugage? We'll see...ended the day by booking a bus down south to Koh Phangan where white sands, palms, hammocks & according to the lastest weatherforecast, lots of rain! are awaiting :-( Dry season? Not for now! Hopefully is doesn't last too long, Line wants to work on her tan a bit, time to loose those bikeshirt/sandal marks!
21/03: Free ferry, flat bike-on-train fares & back in bustling bangkok
Route with pics
Picasa Album
So after spending 1 more day in Ayuthaya we headed off to the train station to catch the noon train to Bkk. For some reason the return to the station ferry in ayuthaya is free? Or we just missed the pay-lady...anycase, joepie, free boatride! (60sec only though)
When we then bought our train tickets, we realised there is a flat-fare for the bikes...so far we were in the believe that we payed a %fee based on the distance we travelled...not. It's 90B/bike, always (about 2 euro). Sounds a bit hefty considering our tickets were only 15B/person! Less than 0,5euro for 2h train riding...absurd...enough compensation for the 90B/bike ;-)
Train ride was uneventfully nice, windows down, doorway sitting staring & enjoying the fan come round. Then we had to hit the bangkok roads again! Busy, noisy, smelly & really hot. This time we could really feel the polution in the air while trying to gasp for oxygen in the air. A ride to the Probike shop quickly ended our hopefull "dream" of selling them our bikes, but tomorrow we meet a dutch guy that does biketours in bkk & would like to see them...fingers crossed...Ended the day by meeting another belgian guy who just arrived in bkk from australia, sharing a noodlesoup & beers, 7-11 snack & some travel stories. Only action remaining for today is yet another shower before going to bed.
Picasa Album
So after spending 1 more day in Ayuthaya we headed off to the train station to catch the noon train to Bkk. For some reason the return to the station ferry in ayuthaya is free? Or we just missed the pay-lady...anycase, joepie, free boatride! (60sec only though)When we then bought our train tickets, we realised there is a flat-fare for the bikes...so far we were in the believe that we payed a %fee based on the distance we travelled...not. It's 90B/bike, always (about 2 euro). Sounds a bit hefty considering our tickets were only 15B/person! Less than 0,5euro for 2h train riding...absurd...enough compensation for the 90B/bike ;-)
Train ride was uneventfully nice, windows down, doorway sitting staring & enjoying the fan come round. Then we had to hit the bangkok roads again! Busy, noisy, smelly & really hot. This time we could really feel the polution in the air while trying to gasp for oxygen in the air. A ride to the Probike shop quickly ended our hopefull "dream" of selling them our bikes, but tomorrow we meet a dutch guy that does biketours in bkk & would like to see them...fingers crossed...Ended the day by meeting another belgian guy who just arrived in bkk from australia, sharing a noodlesoup & beers, 7-11 snack & some travel stories. Only action remaining for today is yet another shower before going to bed.
20/03: Soooooooo hot! Bkk just had to wait 1 more day.
We planned to leave for Bangkok today, but realised just before leaving it was sunday and potentially Probike would be closed. Since our first action in bkk is to go there we decided to stay 1 more day in quick ayuthaya. Certainly a better place to spend some relax time here than bkk...understand? Later when we checked the opening hours of probike we realised they are open every day, dow! No probs, we just gave ourselves 1 more day to do nothing...& man it was needed! After the last days of poor weather, the sunshine has returned full blast. Soaring heat well into the +30°C (probably over +35°C if you ask us). From noon it is basically impossible to do anyhting that can't be done into the shade. If you do step out into the sun it feels as if you are laying on a grill, happily sizzling away..bring on the sauce chef! Then in a blink of an eye you start dripping sweat onto the pavement. Simply ridiculous.
But, no complaints! we are happy the sun is back into thailand (as long as we can shelter from it & don't have to do anything ;-))
But, no complaints! we are happy the sun is back into thailand (as long as we can shelter from it & don't have to do anything ;-))
19/03: chillin' in a park somewhere in Ayutthaya(+18; 4708km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Yesterday we bought a mango and a couple of bananas on the market for our breakfast today. This morning we went to the 7eleven to buy us some youghurt to put on the fruit and some more Ovaltine :-). Maybe they should have named it Ovalline (considering the quantities she drinks or wants to drink of it all day). It was a delicious breakfast and a good start of a very sunny day! Yess, the sun is back!
After that we changed guesthouse, since the owner's brother was having a party with karaoke tonight. No point of sticking around if we want to sleep :-) We know all there is to know of karaoke overload after 5 months across asia & don't need to get up close & personal. We found another nice guesthouse close by, again little bungalows in a garden, dropped off our stuff in our room and set of for a tour around town. We quickly decided that we had seen enough temples and set down in a park to read our books. (the templeitis virus seems to still be lingering in our bloodstream) Some more 7eleven for a drink (no ovaltine, imagine!) and back to our guesthouse. Guess what we had for dinner.... yep, noodlesoup again! For some strange reason we're still not sick of it. We even ate two of them. 25 baht (0.60€) each! It was a very cheap day foodwise, because for lunch we also had a noodlesoup each and a pepsi each. This only costed a total of 45baht! or couple of cents over a euro. Man, buying food is going to hurt when we get back home :-). What better way to end our day with another Ovaltine (which you can also call Ovalardan by the way, since he's always drinking one too) while reading our books some more.
Picasa Album
Yesterday we bought a mango and a couple of bananas on the market for our breakfast today. This morning we went to the 7eleven to buy us some youghurt to put on the fruit and some more Ovaltine :-). Maybe they should have named it Ovalline (considering the quantities she drinks or wants to drink of it all day). It was a delicious breakfast and a good start of a very sunny day! Yess, the sun is back!
After that we changed guesthouse, since the owner's brother was having a party with karaoke tonight. No point of sticking around if we want to sleep :-) We know all there is to know of karaoke overload after 5 months across asia & don't need to get up close & personal. We found another nice guesthouse close by, again little bungalows in a garden, dropped off our stuff in our room and set of for a tour around town. We quickly decided that we had seen enough temples and set down in a park to read our books. (the templeitis virus seems to still be lingering in our bloodstream) Some more 7eleven for a drink (no ovaltine, imagine!) and back to our guesthouse. Guess what we had for dinner.... yep, noodlesoup again! For some strange reason we're still not sick of it. We even ate two of them. 25 baht (0.60€) each! It was a very cheap day foodwise, because for lunch we also had a noodlesoup each and a pepsi each. This only costed a total of 45baht! or couple of cents over a euro. Man, buying food is going to hurt when we get back home :-). What better way to end our day with another Ovaltine (which you can also call Ovalardan by the way, since he's always drinking one too) while reading our books some more.
18/03: Guesthouse escape & Ayuthaya temple run (+18; 4690km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
After our healthy, yoghurt & ovaltine, (real early morning) breakfast in front of the 7-11 we headed to search for a guesthouse to catch up on some sleep before visiting Ayuthaya...found a place with a bed, hot shower & wifi so went for it. After 10min it was clear the wifi & hot water both didn't work. Since this is what we wanted, we decided to leave the place again. The owner obviously didn't like that; understandably, but if the only use of the room is to sit down & check if wifi is working...you can hardly call that usage. In the lobby we then also heard that wifi wasn't working for days, but when asked if they have wifi they obviously say "yes, have!" ;-) Anyway, at some point she even mentioned calling the police to resolve the matter. 1) what matter? 2)It also vanished any doubt we had of maybe staying afterall. So picked up our bags & left. Easily found another GH (checking all requirements on our list) so we showered & took a nap.
Afternoon started with a rice/chicken plate (instead of our usual noodlesoup ;-)), followed with a bikeride through town along the numerous old temple sites. Most of them require to pay a small entrance fee, but we could see all we needed from outside & the one's we did venture into we found nobody/nowhere to pay?? It feels a little bit like Angkor, albeit on a much smaller scale. A bit different & very nice is the fact that the remains are very well integrated into the modern city whereas in Angkor the temples are a good distance out of town. Found thai edamame roadside snack, more 7-11 ovaltine (Line is growing a serious addiction) & a lot of huge chicken worship statues around town?? We also like chicken....but that much to worship it? Line even managed to get the 7-11 ovaltine machine stuck so it kept on sprouting it's brown gold. She didn't opt to resolve the problem by hanging under the tap & trying to outdrink the machine, but yelled to the shop worker about the problem that she professionally solved by shoving her finger into the nozzle. Miraculously when removing the finger, the flow had ceased.
Picasa Album
After our healthy, yoghurt & ovaltine, (real early morning) breakfast in front of the 7-11 we headed to search for a guesthouse to catch up on some sleep before visiting Ayuthaya...found a place with a bed, hot shower & wifi so went for it. After 10min it was clear the wifi & hot water both didn't work. Since this is what we wanted, we decided to leave the place again. The owner obviously didn't like that; understandably, but if the only use of the room is to sit down & check if wifi is working...you can hardly call that usage. In the lobby we then also heard that wifi wasn't working for days, but when asked if they have wifi they obviously say "yes, have!" ;-) Anyway, at some point she even mentioned calling the police to resolve the matter. 1) what matter? 2)It also vanished any doubt we had of maybe staying afterall. So picked up our bags & left. Easily found another GH (checking all requirements on our list) so we showered & took a nap.Afternoon started with a rice/chicken plate (instead of our usual noodlesoup ;-)), followed with a bikeride through town along the numerous old temple sites. Most of them require to pay a small entrance fee, but we could see all we needed from outside & the one's we did venture into we found nobody/nowhere to pay?? It feels a little bit like Angkor, albeit on a much smaller scale. A bit different & very nice is the fact that the remains are very well integrated into the modern city whereas in Angkor the temples are a good distance out of town. Found thai edamame roadside snack, more 7-11 ovaltine (Line is growing a serious addiction) & a lot of huge chicken worship statues around town?? We also like chicken....but that much to worship it? Line even managed to get the 7-11 ovaltine machine stuck so it kept on sprouting it's brown gold. She didn't opt to resolve the problem by hanging under the tap & trying to outdrink the machine, but yelled to the shop worker about the problem that she professionally solved by shoving her finger into the nozzle. Miraculously when removing the finger, the flow had ceased.17/03: Freezin' cold in nongkai & yet again a cold sleeper-train to Ayuthaya
Route with pics
Picasa Album
This is supposed to be the hot & dry season in thailand, but today (as the last 2 days) the weather is very different from normal. Even locals are walking around rubbing their arms & pulling up their jackets high around their necks while looking around themselves as if asking what is wrong with mother nature...it was a mere 16°C! Take note, normal temperature this time of year is around 30 (in the shade). Adding continuous drizzling rain all day long, we had the feeling of already being back in Belgium ;-)
At 5pm we went to eat our noodlesoup and set off to the trainstation. In Thailand again, so that means a normal price to take your bike with you on the train (90 baht/bike, ticket +/- 700 baht/person: this is a normal ration :-) ). We bought ourselves a puzzle (500 pieces) so we had something to do on the train. Turned out to be more difficult than we thought. We started to get tired and wanted to go to sleep, but the puzzle wasn't finished yet. So we had to break it up again, shit! Yeah well, that means we'll have something to do on the islands or somewhere were we stay more than one day. So we went to sleep and hoped for once the train would have some delay, otherwise we would arrive in Ayutthaya at 4.30 am. Try and find a guesthouse then! The train did as we hoped and had a delay of almost two hours. Yess, that meant daylight! Breakfast no problem, 'cause 7eleven is open always ;-) We'll catch up on some sleep for a couple of hours and after that we'll go and visit Ayutthaya.
Picasa Album
This is supposed to be the hot & dry season in thailand, but today (as the last 2 days) the weather is very different from normal. Even locals are walking around rubbing their arms & pulling up their jackets high around their necks while looking around themselves as if asking what is wrong with mother nature...it was a mere 16°C! Take note, normal temperature this time of year is around 30 (in the shade). Adding continuous drizzling rain all day long, we had the feeling of already being back in Belgium ;-)At 5pm we went to eat our noodlesoup and set off to the trainstation. In Thailand again, so that means a normal price to take your bike with you on the train (90 baht/bike, ticket +/- 700 baht/person: this is a normal ration :-) ). We bought ourselves a puzzle (500 pieces) so we had something to do on the train. Turned out to be more difficult than we thought. We started to get tired and wanted to go to sleep, but the puzzle wasn't finished yet. So we had to break it up again, shit! Yeah well, that means we'll have something to do on the islands or somewhere were we stay more than one day. So we went to sleep and hoped for once the train would have some delay, otherwise we would arrive in Ayutthaya at 4.30 am. Try and find a guesthouse then! The train did as we hoped and had a delay of almost two hours. Yess, that meant daylight! Breakfast no problem, 'cause 7eleven is open always ;-) We'll catch up on some sleep for a couple of hours and after that we'll go and visit Ayutthaya.
16/03: Changin' our mind. Again you say? (+62; 4672km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Woke up this morning and we didn't hear any rain. Yesss! But once we had packed all our bags and were ready to get some breakfast, it started again. Damn! So we put on our raincoats and went looking for something to eat. Yeah well, looks like they like to sleep longer here than they do in the other countries we've been in so far. We are used to find our daily noodlesoup at 6.30 am in the morning. Not in Thailand, or not in Nongkhai that is :) They all just open at 9am. So back to our guesthouse to wait for another hour and then breakfast. We found a good German bakery with cheap pasteries. Accompanied by a hot tea, since it was cold ;)
After that we started biking the road next to the Mekong to the West. Soon I (Line) realised that "it wasn't all that" biking in the rain. After 30 km we stopped at a 7eleven and talked about our plans. We decided that we've biked enough for this trip and that we'll cancel the plan of another 'biking-loop' in Thailand. So what we did was... bike the 30 km back to were we came from. Oops! Yeah well, like Ardan said: better this 30 km again than another 400 km which you don't like! True :) Before we went back to Nongkhai we bought a new Thai simcard.
When we arrived back in Nongkhai, we first went to the trainstation and bought the tickets for the sleeptrain to Ayuthaya tomorrow evening. After that we biked back to the center and looked for a new guesthouse. We found a very cosy one: wooden rooms, very clean, a welcoming hot shower, free breakfast and a very kind and helpfull owner 'Dann' (his name doesn't sound like it, but he is Thai :-) ). For dinner we had another noodlesoup somewhere on the street for 30 baht (0,75€) and.... Khaaw Niauw Mamwang (sticky rice with mango)!!!!
Yummie!! I was looking forward to this since we left Thailand more than 3 months ago! It was delicious!
Picasa Album
Woke up this morning and we didn't hear any rain. Yesss! But once we had packed all our bags and were ready to get some breakfast, it started again. Damn! So we put on our raincoats and went looking for something to eat. Yeah well, looks like they like to sleep longer here than they do in the other countries we've been in so far. We are used to find our daily noodlesoup at 6.30 am in the morning. Not in Thailand, or not in Nongkhai that is :) They all just open at 9am. So back to our guesthouse to wait for another hour and then breakfast. We found a good German bakery with cheap pasteries. Accompanied by a hot tea, since it was cold ;)
After that we started biking the road next to the Mekong to the West. Soon I (Line) realised that "it wasn't all that" biking in the rain. After 30 km we stopped at a 7eleven and talked about our plans. We decided that we've biked enough for this trip and that we'll cancel the plan of another 'biking-loop' in Thailand. So what we did was... bike the 30 km back to were we came from. Oops! Yeah well, like Ardan said: better this 30 km again than another 400 km which you don't like! True :) Before we went back to Nongkhai we bought a new Thai simcard.
When we arrived back in Nongkhai, we first went to the trainstation and bought the tickets for the sleeptrain to Ayuthaya tomorrow evening. After that we biked back to the center and looked for a new guesthouse. We found a very cosy one: wooden rooms, very clean, a welcoming hot shower, free breakfast and a very kind and helpfull owner 'Dann' (his name doesn't sound like it, but he is Thai :-) ). For dinner we had another noodlesoup somewhere on the street for 30 baht (0,75€) and.... Khaaw Niauw Mamwang (sticky rice with mango)!!!!
Yummie!! I was looking forward to this since we left Thailand more than 3 months ago! It was delicious!15/03: Back to the beginning, Thailand (+30; 4610km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Before being able to leave Laos & get back into thailand where we started our trip a good 4 months ago we had to get our VISA from the thai consulate in Vientiane. Pick-up is between 13-15pm...we had absolutely nothing else to do today so we already went there at 10am. Secretely hoping maybe we could pick ours up anyway since they had already been ready for 4 days....not. Burocracy is the same all over the world...13-15pm only for pick-up. ( we finally got our passports from the same chick at the same desk in the afternoon)
The proces at the thai consulate is a lot like at the butchers in the supermarket, you have to get a ticket with number for pickup/application & it get really busy at the consulate! We waited 2,5h to hand in our application last time so we wanted to get a ticket for pickup at 10am to be the first served at 13pm...not, machine only gives those tickets at 13pm...OK, so camp here till then instead! It was raining terribly anyway outside (imagine? Dry season?? Not today & last night that is)
To our surprise at noon we where kicked out of the consulate cause everybody takes lunch...another hour outside in front of the gate didn't appeal to us so we headed of for some lunch too. When we returned at 12:45 there was at least 100 people lining in front of the gate!! **** Anyway, I (ardan) just waited at the otherside of the street till the door actually opened, then crossed & moved smoothly into the front of the line & through the gate...headed straight to the ticket machine (at double pace vs the others) & got hold of ticket #12. Suckas! ;-) My advice is to get a thai visa somewhere else than Vientiane if possible or pay in a GH to have it done for you. We did get lucky since the tourist visa now is free! (until end march 2011) Tactic to boost tourism since last years riots in bkk that gave tourism a dent.
Once we got hold of our passports we headed straight for the Friendship bridge to cross over into Thailand, Nongkai. It is absolutely possible to bike across (although lots are informed otherwise). We did see a sign that could have indicated it wasn't allowed, but nobody try to stop us...& some had guns, so they would have been succesfull in their attempts. Onc across we were immediatelly greeted by a 7-11 where we bought some tasty snack before getting to Nongkai centre. Nice little bustling riverside town with pleasant market & terrace bars with free&fast wifi (something else than Laos).
We have also decided to keep on the bikes just a bit longer & continue to follow the Mekong to the west. After that we head down through/over the Isaan plateau crossing 2 national parks before catching back up with the railroad to get down to Ayuthaya...besides it will carry us over the 5000km mark. More is more! ;-)
Picasa Album
Before being able to leave Laos & get back into thailand where we started our trip a good 4 months ago we had to get our VISA from the thai consulate in Vientiane. Pick-up is between 13-15pm...we had absolutely nothing else to do today so we already went there at 10am. Secretely hoping maybe we could pick ours up anyway since they had already been ready for 4 days....not. Burocracy is the same all over the world...13-15pm only for pick-up. ( we finally got our passports from the same chick at the same desk in the afternoon)
The proces at the thai consulate is a lot like at the butchers in the supermarket, you have to get a ticket with number for pickup/application & it get really busy at the consulate! We waited 2,5h to hand in our application last time so we wanted to get a ticket for pickup at 10am to be the first served at 13pm...not, machine only gives those tickets at 13pm...OK, so camp here till then instead! It was raining terribly anyway outside (imagine? Dry season?? Not today & last night that is)
To our surprise at noon we where kicked out of the consulate cause everybody takes lunch...another hour outside in front of the gate didn't appeal to us so we headed of for some lunch too. When we returned at 12:45 there was at least 100 people lining in front of the gate!! **** Anyway, I (ardan) just waited at the otherside of the street till the door actually opened, then crossed & moved smoothly into the front of the line & through the gate...headed straight to the ticket machine (at double pace vs the others) & got hold of ticket #12. Suckas! ;-) My advice is to get a thai visa somewhere else than Vientiane if possible or pay in a GH to have it done for you. We did get lucky since the tourist visa now is free! (until end march 2011) Tactic to boost tourism since last years riots in bkk that gave tourism a dent.
Once we got hold of our passports we headed straight for the Friendship bridge to cross over into Thailand, Nongkai. It is absolutely possible to bike across (although lots are informed otherwise). We did see a sign that could have indicated it wasn't allowed, but nobody try to stop us...& some had guns, so they would have been succesfull in their attempts. Onc across we were immediatelly greeted by a 7-11 where we bought some tasty snack before getting to Nongkai centre. Nice little bustling riverside town with pleasant market & terrace bars with free&fast wifi (something else than Laos).We have also decided to keep on the bikes just a bit longer & continue to follow the Mekong to the west. After that we head down through/over the Isaan plateau crossing 2 national parks before catching back up with the railroad to get down to Ayuthaya...besides it will carry us over the 5000km mark. More is more! ;-)
14/03: Bad luck or is that just the way it is?
So today we head back to Vientiane. Not being able to find the "southern" bus station in VangVieng we opted to buy a toerist "VIP" bus back to Vientiane...however just to clarify, there is a southern station & it is a bit further than the shell station on the left side of the Hw. We know since the VIP bus left there too...dow.
Our experience with this busride can be summarized as followed:
1) You pay 25% more for the busticket cause it's "VIP"; Pro=you get picked up at your guesthouse
2) You spend 30min in a cramped, hot minivan going around all the GH's to pick others up...
3) You get dropped off at the "VIP" bus where you wait another hour at least cause they can't find some dudes...(or whatever)
4) Our "VIP" bus has non opening windows & not working AC...woeptiedoe a smelly, sauna busride!
5) It breaks down for an hour while they change something on the engine...interior smelled a bit too much like diesel ;-)
6) You get dropped off at the Northern Busstation (a solid 10km out of town)...pay for another tuktuk into town.
In comparison with the ride up there on the local bus (cheaper, faster, more comfortable) this is worthless. So, if you don't travel with your own means of transport...stick to what the locals use! You need some additional persuasion? We took a couple of busses now, of which 2 'tourist' busses & these where by far the most expensive & the ****** of all.
Luckily our warmshower host took us in again & offered us a bed for the night. Yess! Wanting some more happy-food we headed down the street to the local "KFC" style stand. Chips & really good crisp chicken (better than KFC!) at a ridiculous low price. The place also is really popular with locals that stand in line at all moments of the day for some take-away.
Our experience with this busride can be summarized as followed:
1) You pay 25% more for the busticket cause it's "VIP"; Pro=you get picked up at your guesthouse
2) You spend 30min in a cramped, hot minivan going around all the GH's to pick others up...
3) You get dropped off at the "VIP" bus where you wait another hour at least cause they can't find some dudes...(or whatever)
4) Our "VIP" bus has non opening windows & not working AC...woeptiedoe a smelly, sauna busride!
5) It breaks down for an hour while they change something on the engine...interior smelled a bit too much like diesel ;-)
6) You get dropped off at the Northern Busstation (a solid 10km out of town)...pay for another tuktuk into town.
In comparison with the ride up there on the local bus (cheaper, faster, more comfortable) this is worthless. So, if you don't travel with your own means of transport...stick to what the locals use! You need some additional persuasion? We took a couple of busses now, of which 2 'tourist' busses & these where by far the most expensive & the ****** of all.
Luckily our warmshower host took us in again & offered us a bed for the night. Yess! Wanting some more happy-food we headed down the street to the local "KFC" style stand. Chips & really good crisp chicken (better than KFC!) at a ridiculous low price. The place also is really popular with locals that stand in line at all moments of the day for some take-away.
13/03: Still sick in Vang Vieng
Like the title says it: still sick. Got through the night okay, but in the morning it was back. So not much new to say about today either. I slept a lot and read in my book. Ardan did his thing on the computer again. Apart from the occasional visit to the toilet, another relaxing day in Vang Vieng. Tomorrow we'll take the bus to Vientiane again. We will be too late to pick up our visas so we'll stay another night in Vientiane and then we'll cross the border to Thailand.
12/03: Two naked drunks at the door.... Vang Vieng again
Last night was interesting. Seems that I wasn't feeling better yet. Got up a couple of times to go to the toilet. Hopefully today and tomorrows rest will clear me from whatever it is I have. Besides waking up from this, we also were woken up by two idiots, ofcoarse white drunk tourists, who were shouting and banging on every door of every room. So I got up, waited until they banged at our door and quickly opened the door to yell at them 'shut uuuuuup'. They were so surprised to see me, so they just ran off. That's when I saw they were butnaked!! Stupid drunks! Well my action did work, 'cause they stopped banging on doors. Quite funny to see the surprise on their faces when I opened the door. They obviously didn't count on anyone opening the door and seeing them naked. This was yet another time we we're quite proud not being part of the cool tourists ;)
For the rest of the day I slept, went to the toilet and read in my book. Ardan did some interneting. All with a beautiful view on the mountains and (for Ardan) a fruitshake in the hand. Tomorrow is our last day in Vang Vieng. Wonder what we will do ;)
For the rest of the day I slept, went to the toilet and read in my book. Ardan did some interneting. All with a beautiful view on the mountains and (for Ardan) a fruitshake in the hand. Tomorrow is our last day in Vang Vieng. Wonder what we will do ;)
11/03: Another day of relaxing in Vang Vieng
Not much to say about today. We slept longer today (no alarmclock at 6 am since a long time!), read our books, drank a fruitshake, sat at the water and watched the cows come by, read some more. That's about it :)
10/03: Vang Vieng
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Took the bus to Vang Vieng this morning. You can just take the bus in center of town apparently, you don't have to go all the way to the northern busstation. We were, together with one other guy, the only falang on the bus. We expected that there would be more. Maybe because we took a local bus and not a VIP touring bus. It was quite and experience :) The ride itself was okay. No brakedown like in Vietnam. But the bus was loaded! When all the seats were taken, they just put some plastic chairs in the aile where more people can sit. Then they also put a scooter on the bus, also in the aile. No problem! That only created more seats since they ran out of plastic chairs :)
Arriving in Vang Vieng, we knew we had to go to the bridge since we didn't want to stay at the backpackers area. 80.000KIP for a room (10$), which is probably not the cheapest in town. But we get (hopefully) silent nights, a fantastic view on the mountains, free wifi (which doesn't always work ;) ) and the river 20 meters from the guesthouse.
Once we took a shower, we walked a bit around, bought ourselves two new 'old' books, something to drink and headed back to our guesthouse where we read our books on our terras until the sun went down (beautiful sunset over mountain view!). For dinner we headed back to the backpackers area and realised once again that we're sooo not cool ;) All this drunk people, walking in their bikini's and bear chests on the streets (not showing any respect for the locals), hmmm, not our thing :)
If, and we say if, we go tubing, then we'll probably do this in the morning when we hope the 'cool' drunks are still in their beds with a hangover. But still, Vang Vieng looks very nice out of the backpackers area! Very, very nice mountains, quiet, sun, water... We think we will be able to relax here for three days. Maybe rent a motobike to visit the caves, read, watch the sunsets, swim, read some more... Sounds good.
Oh and once again, we locked the door with our key still inside :) It has never been a problem since they always have a second key. Well, this time they couldn't find it. So the girls from the guesthouse started banging on the door and windows, of coarse without any effect. Then they went and got a knife to try and pick the lock. Didn't work either. They went back to the balconydoor to bang on the door again. So Ardan took the knife and picked the lock like a professional, so we got in :) Note to ourselves: make this the last time that you've locked yourself out!! :)
Picasa Album
Took the bus to Vang Vieng this morning. You can just take the bus in center of town apparently, you don't have to go all the way to the northern busstation. We were, together with one other guy, the only falang on the bus. We expected that there would be more. Maybe because we took a local bus and not a VIP touring bus. It was quite and experience :) The ride itself was okay. No brakedown like in Vietnam. But the bus was loaded! When all the seats were taken, they just put some plastic chairs in the aile where more people can sit. Then they also put a scooter on the bus, also in the aile. No problem! That only created more seats since they ran out of plastic chairs :) Arriving in Vang Vieng, we knew we had to go to the bridge since we didn't want to stay at the backpackers area. 80.000KIP for a room (10$), which is probably not the cheapest in town. But we get (hopefully) silent nights, a fantastic view on the mountains, free wifi (which doesn't always work ;) ) and the river 20 meters from the guesthouse.
Once we took a shower, we walked a bit around, bought ourselves two new 'old' books, something to drink and headed back to our guesthouse where we read our books on our terras until the sun went down (beautiful sunset over mountain view!). For dinner we headed back to the backpackers area and realised once again that we're sooo not cool ;) All this drunk people, walking in their bikini's and bear chests on the streets (not showing any respect for the locals), hmmm, not our thing :)
If, and we say if, we go tubing, then we'll probably do this in the morning when we hope the 'cool' drunks are still in their beds with a hangover. But still, Vang Vieng looks very nice out of the backpackers area! Very, very nice mountains, quiet, sun, water... We think we will be able to relax here for three days. Maybe rent a motobike to visit the caves, read, watch the sunsets, swim, read some more... Sounds good.
Oh and once again, we locked the door with our key still inside :) It has never been a problem since they always have a second key. Well, this time they couldn't find it. So the girls from the guesthouse started banging on the door and windows, of coarse without any effect. Then they went and got a knife to try and pick the lock. Didn't work either. They went back to the balconydoor to bang on the door again. So Ardan took the knife and picked the lock like a professional, so we got in :) Note to ourselves: make this the last time that you've locked yourself out!! :)
09/03: Getting a Thai visa & relaxin Lao massage style
This time it was Line's turn to get sick again. Throwing up and diarrhea in the middle of the night. Nice... After an 'immodium' and 'motilium', the 'attacks' stopped. Something she ate? We were spared of this things during the most part of our trip, so we have to catch up I guess?
In the morning we set off to the Thai consulate to get our Thai visa. A lot, really a lot of people were waiting the get their visa too. It took us at least 2,5 hours of waiting time. Yeah well, we need the visa (which is still free 'till the end of the month) so we just waited. The time flew by rather quick actually. We started talking to a German guy who had been living in Laos for already 13 years. Once it was our turn to give our filled in papers to the people at the 'visa-desk' (we can pick up the visa tomorrow, but we'll pick it up when we'll get back from Vang Vieng), we headed out for a noodlesoup for Ardan. Line only drank a cola.
Then it was time to threat ourselves with a massage. Ardan got a Lao massage, Line a steamed herbes massage (the same as the Lao massage, but once in a while they put some bags with steamed herbes on your muscles). Only 5$/person for a whole hour! Wauw! Hopefully the herbes gave Line a bit of her strenght back. Tomorrow we'll go to VangVieng and try to find a relaxing place like we did in Kampot, Cambodia. After that it's back to Vientiane to pick up the visa and passport and then cross the border to Thailand again.
In the morning we set off to the Thai consulate to get our Thai visa. A lot, really a lot of people were waiting the get their visa too. It took us at least 2,5 hours of waiting time. Yeah well, we need the visa (which is still free 'till the end of the month) so we just waited. The time flew by rather quick actually. We started talking to a German guy who had been living in Laos for already 13 years. Once it was our turn to give our filled in papers to the people at the 'visa-desk' (we can pick up the visa tomorrow, but we'll pick it up when we'll get back from Vang Vieng), we headed out for a noodlesoup for Ardan. Line only drank a cola.
Then it was time to threat ourselves with a massage. Ardan got a Lao massage, Line a steamed herbes massage (the same as the Lao massage, but once in a while they put some bags with steamed herbes on your muscles). Only 5$/person for a whole hour! Wauw! Hopefully the herbes gave Line a bit of her strenght back. Tomorrow we'll go to VangVieng and try to find a relaxing place like we did in Kampot, Cambodia. After that it's back to Vientiane to pick up the visa and passport and then cross the border to Thailand again.
08/03: Vientiane trailing & warmshower hospitality (+24; 4580km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Curious about the included breakfast in our guesthouse we got up & made our way to the lobby. Turned in our vouchers for toast, an egg, couple slices of cucumber, a slice of pineapple and watermelon & a buffet of crackers with butter, jam & some strange mixed salad. All-in-all a simple, but effective breakfast. Took the time before noon real easy with some reading & figuring out what our plan for the rest of laos & thailand could be. Checked out & took off for a discovery tour through vientiane capital for some bike sightseeing since we had to meet up with a warmshower host only around 5:30pm in the evening. So go&see the vientiane arc de triomphe, national hall, stupa blablabla, statues of probably "important" dudes, mekong river (worksite) promenade & the exterior of some wats...we still haven't recovered completely from our templitis caught on our last day in angkor, cause we got bored real quick ;-) Yet again we realise that we are no cityhoppers...2nd day in the "big" city (which vientiane actually totally isn't, maybe biggest in Laos, but to international levels it remains an overgrown village) and we have no idea what to do around here..?! :-)
Visit museums....just not. Visit wats....*** again a modern looking cement temple in bright colours? (we have simply already seen a lot of them last months). Strolling a promenade? (done that a lot lately). Look at big, unimportant, mostly ugly buildings in anything but awe?...mmm, that's "mildly" amusing to say the least. Sit down and drink a lao beer?...sounds like the best option :-) So a beer & noodlesoup (what else) later we met up with friendly Jeanette (read, we found a real! jeanette for our 'last day of carnival assigment' we got in our diary!) who is working in the vientiane international school and is so kind to host us the next 2 nights before we head off to VangVieng for some days. She has lived in a lot of different countries before & will soon be heading to South America after almost 3y of Laos.
Tomorrow is more practical...get thai visa for next month, get busticket to VV, get a book to read, maybe get a massage? Didin't get these things today since alot was closed due to International Women day, a national holiday in Laos!
Picasa Album
Curious about the included breakfast in our guesthouse we got up & made our way to the lobby. Turned in our vouchers for toast, an egg, couple slices of cucumber, a slice of pineapple and watermelon & a buffet of crackers with butter, jam & some strange mixed salad. All-in-all a simple, but effective breakfast. Took the time before noon real easy with some reading & figuring out what our plan for the rest of laos & thailand could be. Checked out & took off for a discovery tour through vientiane capital for some bike sightseeing since we had to meet up with a warmshower host only around 5:30pm in the evening. So go&see the vientiane arc de triomphe, national hall, stupa blablabla, statues of probably "important" dudes, mekong river (worksite) promenade & the exterior of some wats...we still haven't recovered completely from our templitis caught on our last day in angkor, cause we got bored real quick ;-) Yet again we realise that we are no cityhoppers...2nd day in the "big" city (which vientiane actually totally isn't, maybe biggest in Laos, but to international levels it remains an overgrown village) and we have no idea what to do around here..?! :-)Visit museums....just not. Visit wats....*** again a modern looking cement temple in bright colours? (we have simply already seen a lot of them last months). Strolling a promenade? (done that a lot lately). Look at big, unimportant, mostly ugly buildings in anything but awe?...mmm, that's "mildly" amusing to say the least. Sit down and drink a lao beer?...sounds like the best option :-) So a beer & noodlesoup (what else) later we met up with friendly Jeanette (read, we found a real! jeanette for our 'last day of carnival assigment' we got in our diary!) who is working in the vientiane international school and is so kind to host us the next 2 nights before we head off to VangVieng for some days. She has lived in a lot of different countries before & will soon be heading to South America after almost 3y of Laos.
Tomorrow is more practical...get thai visa for next month, get busticket to VV, get a book to read, maybe get a massage? Didin't get these things today since alot was closed due to International Women day, a national holiday in Laos!
07/03: Biking into Vientiane (+69; 4556 km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Today was our last day of biking, or biking to get from village A to village B that is. We'll probably bike around town tomorrow also. We hope we won't regret our decission to leave our bikes in Bangkok and doing the rest by public transport, because we were thinking the same thing today: "oh no, look at that guy barganning for a tuk tuk ride, soooo much easier if you have your bike". Once we've found a guesthouse, we took a shower and went looking for something to eat. Well that shower was kinda worthless because we started to sweat with the first step we took outside, like every other white person we saw on the street :) We really start to feel that we're getting into the hottest time of the year! For the rest of the day we were planning what we will do the rest of our time in Laos and Thailand. Keep you posted.
Picasa Album
Today was our last day of biking, or biking to get from village A to village B that is. We'll probably bike around town tomorrow also. We hope we won't regret our decission to leave our bikes in Bangkok and doing the rest by public transport, because we were thinking the same thing today: "oh no, look at that guy barganning for a tuk tuk ride, soooo much easier if you have your bike". Once we've found a guesthouse, we took a shower and went looking for something to eat. Well that shower was kinda worthless because we started to sweat with the first step we took outside, like every other white person we saw on the street :) We really start to feel that we're getting into the hottest time of the year! For the rest of the day we were planning what we will do the rest of our time in Laos and Thailand. Keep you posted.
06/03: Again just a little bit more, (oehah, a little bit more)...(+88; 4487km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Started one hour later today. We just couldn't get out of bed at 6 'o clock. It turned out to be another very hot day (according to the french couple we met yesterday the temperature is often around 40-45 °C and higher!) and today it was Line who didn't cope to well with the blistering heat. Our first thought was to stop at Thabok after around 55km (we found two guesthouses there) but decided to go on a little further to cut of a few km's from tomorrow's ride to Vientiane. Well that didn't work out as planned. There weren't any guesthouses in the next town, so we had to add another 30 km to the counter to get to Ban Hai. If you're feeling the heat, this is long! We found a hotel just before Ban Hai but wanted to take a look in the town itself since the roadmarks indicated Ban Hai already since Paksane. "This must mean that there are a couple of guesthouses" we thought. Well, we thought wrong. There is only one, without shower (but with A/C, strange ;) ). So we ate another noodlesoup for lunch and headed back (2km) to the hotel we saw first. For the rest of the day we just read in our book/lonely planned, drank a beer and a coke, ate some fruit and escaped from the heat. Rounded the evening with grilled duck, fried rice, more beer & playing cards. Ready for an early night sleep, tomorrow should be our last day of biking. Will hit the 4500km before we enter Vientiane. Maybe a little bit of biking around in Vientiane itself, but that should be it. Line is feeling very happy ;-) Although secretly she will then start to miss the bike....just wait!
Picasa Album
Started one hour later today. We just couldn't get out of bed at 6 'o clock. It turned out to be another very hot day (according to the french couple we met yesterday the temperature is often around 40-45 °C and higher!) and today it was Line who didn't cope to well with the blistering heat. Our first thought was to stop at Thabok after around 55km (we found two guesthouses there) but decided to go on a little further to cut of a few km's from tomorrow's ride to Vientiane. Well that didn't work out as planned. There weren't any guesthouses in the next town, so we had to add another 30 km to the counter to get to Ban Hai. If you're feeling the heat, this is long! We found a hotel just before Ban Hai but wanted to take a look in the town itself since the roadmarks indicated Ban Hai already since Paksane. "This must mean that there are a couple of guesthouses" we thought. Well, we thought wrong. There is only one, without shower (but with A/C, strange ;) ). So we ate another noodlesoup for lunch and headed back (2km) to the hotel we saw first. For the rest of the day we just read in our book/lonely planned, drank a beer and a coke, ate some fruit and escaped from the heat. Rounded the evening with grilled duck, fried rice, more beer & playing cards. Ready for an early night sleep, tomorrow should be our last day of biking. Will hit the 4500km before we enter Vientiane. Maybe a little bit of biking around in Vientiane itself, but that should be it. Line is feeling very happy ;-) Although secretly she will then start to miss the bike....just wait!
05/03: More frozen Deedo's, a pretty misty morning & a french biking couple (+95; 4399km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Got up early again this morning to be on our bikes while it is cool, meaning still in the 20°C range...good thing we get up early anyway, cause at a lot of places around 6am speakers start to blast. Music, lyrics, whatever...not to sure if it's just alarmclocks of people that they connect to their (massive) PA systems or something more...doesn't really matter either, you just got to get up it seems. :-)
So we set off in the early morning mist with some good photo opportunities, but kept on pedalling to get plenty of km's before the heat. On this leg of the trip we crossed the path of Benjamin & Emlie, a french couple on a 2y bike trip. (www.&-tour-de-roues.fr) They have just returned to Laos after a brief time back in france and are on their way to Vietnam...they also asked us about Vietnam since they also heard lot of stories from other bikers...we, sadly, had to confirm few of the stories they heard, but also reassured them that it is certainly still nice to go there! After some chit-chat we went our own ways, all the way to Paksan. From time-to-time we stopped for the mandatory frozen deedo's pitstops, adding a new taste to the experience, Melon. 100% chemical flavor but oooooo so good. :-o We are hooked (especially Ardan is).
Paksane is a small strecthed out town with little to see, but it packs a nice market, a couple riverfront restaurants & guesthouses. Everything we need after again 95km on the counter. We do require some other source of energy then noodlesoup for tonight (3 daily noodlesoups for the last 3 days...) so we sat down at a "grilled goat" restaurant for a dish of meat, fresh greens, sticky rice & beer Lao!
Tomorrow is the last stop before getting to Vientiane. Meaning we should hit the 4500km mark & thereby our biking trip km's will come to an end. After Vientiane we think of maybe travelling back to the south of thailand for some island hopping (which we missed in the beginning of the trip due to bad weather) all without bikes...Line has endured enough! ;-) Motorcycle, the dreaded tourist busses, train, plane,...?? Unclear & utterly unimportant. Bike to Vientiane, see from there.
Picasa Album
Got up early again this morning to be on our bikes while it is cool, meaning still in the 20°C range...good thing we get up early anyway, cause at a lot of places around 6am speakers start to blast. Music, lyrics, whatever...not to sure if it's just alarmclocks of people that they connect to their (massive) PA systems or something more...doesn't really matter either, you just got to get up it seems. :-)So we set off in the early morning mist with some good photo opportunities, but kept on pedalling to get plenty of km's before the heat. On this leg of the trip we crossed the path of Benjamin & Emlie, a french couple on a 2y bike trip. (www.&-tour-de-roues.fr) They have just returned to Laos after a brief time back in france and are on their way to Vietnam...they also asked us about Vietnam since they also heard lot of stories from other bikers...we, sadly, had to confirm few of the stories they heard, but also reassured them that it is certainly still nice to go there! After some chit-chat we went our own ways, all the way to Paksan. From time-to-time we stopped for the mandatory frozen deedo's pitstops, adding a new taste to the experience, Melon. 100% chemical flavor but oooooo so good. :-o We are hooked (especially Ardan is).
Paksane is a small strecthed out town with little to see, but it packs a nice market, a couple riverfront restaurants & guesthouses. Everything we need after again 95km on the counter. We do require some other source of energy then noodlesoup for tonight (3 daily noodlesoups for the last 3 days...) so we sat down at a "grilled goat" restaurant for a dish of meat, fresh greens, sticky rice & beer Lao!
Tomorrow is the last stop before getting to Vientiane. Meaning we should hit the 4500km mark & thereby our biking trip km's will come to an end. After Vientiane we think of maybe travelling back to the south of thailand for some island hopping (which we missed in the beginning of the trip due to bad weather) all without bikes...Line has endured enough! ;-) Motorcycle, the dreaded tourist busses, train, plane,...?? Unclear & utterly unimportant. Bike to Vientiane, see from there.
04/03: frozen juices and noodlesoups (+105; 4304 km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Today we realised that Laos isn't actually the poorest country of our six country visit. Cambodia is. Or so it appears to us. For example we see a lot more brick houses and electricity (accompanied by fridges and freezers) here than we did in Cambodia. Ardan has a new favorite drink: frozen deedo's (fruitjuice in a plastic cup put in the freezer).
On our ride today we were greeted again by a lot of smiling and 'sabaidee' yelling children and adults. We think that people will look strange at us when we're back in Belgium since we're so used to yelling hello and giving big smiles to totaly strangers. We will also miss the feeling of being 'special'. We drive by and we feel like the pope waving and smiling and saying hello to everyone and everyone to us. Maybe people should smile more en say hello more to strangers in Belgium to. If they can do it here, and in South-France (Bonjours everywhere :) ), why can't we do this in Belgium?? Something to think about, and something to change?
When we went for dinner (for our 3th noodlesoup of the day), we saw a guy defurring a rat at his noodlestand. Have we been eating rat in our noodlesoup thinking it was beef? Yeah well, tasted okay :) Maybe a mix of both? Or is the rat just a speciality reserved for the family?
Picasa Album
Today we realised that Laos isn't actually the poorest country of our six country visit. Cambodia is. Or so it appears to us. For example we see a lot more brick houses and electricity (accompanied by fridges and freezers) here than we did in Cambodia. Ardan has a new favorite drink: frozen deedo's (fruitjuice in a plastic cup put in the freezer).On our ride today we were greeted again by a lot of smiling and 'sabaidee' yelling children and adults. We think that people will look strange at us when we're back in Belgium since we're so used to yelling hello and giving big smiles to totaly strangers. We will also miss the feeling of being 'special'. We drive by and we feel like the pope waving and smiling and saying hello to everyone and everyone to us. Maybe people should smile more en say hello more to strangers in Belgium to. If they can do it here, and in South-France (Bonjours everywhere :) ), why can't we do this in Belgium?? Something to think about, and something to change?
When we went for dinner (for our 3th noodlesoup of the day), we saw a guy defurring a rat at his noodlestand. Have we been eating rat in our noodlesoup thinking it was beef? Yeah well, tasted okay :) Maybe a mix of both? Or is the rat just a speciality reserved for the family?
03/03: Buddha-, Elephant Cave & lots of karst formations (+40; 4199km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Our initial plan was to rent a moto for touring around the caves, but our gh-grandma ;-) told us the "main" attraction (Buddha cave) was easily done by bike...so we stuck with our bikes :-)
Leaving Thakaek you immediately get a good view of the rising karst mountains in the east. Quite a view we must say! There are several sights around Thakaek and the first stop was Elephant cave where they worship an elephant shaped stalagtite...something like 10y ago the surrounding village was plaged by sickness (which they believed was because they upset the elephant) so they blew up the front of the cave with Dynamite!? Soon after the village was better, they cleared rubble & started worshipping again...lesson learned: When in doubt & prairs don't work?...Use TNT.
2nd stop Xiang cave/turtle lake...no turtles in sight, cold water & a dark cave...youptiedou...nice views though.
Afterwards it was on to the Buddha cave, a small cave about 20m up high in a cliff-face where in 2004 a local found 300 little bronze buddha statues overlooking the rice paddies below. It soon brought tourist$, worshippers & a good road to the small village...the cave & statues itself...not sooooooo impressive to be honest, hell we don't worship.
Lots of frozen juices (to barely try to keep cool) and chocolat/caramel/wafer cookies we settled down for noodle soup & Lao beer on the Mekong waterfront looking at the sun going down over Thailand. Life is good.
Picasa Album
Our initial plan was to rent a moto for touring around the caves, but our gh-grandma ;-) told us the "main" attraction (Buddha cave) was easily done by bike...so we stuck with our bikes :-)Leaving Thakaek you immediately get a good view of the rising karst mountains in the east. Quite a view we must say! There are several sights around Thakaek and the first stop was Elephant cave where they worship an elephant shaped stalagtite...something like 10y ago the surrounding village was plaged by sickness (which they believed was because they upset the elephant) so they blew up the front of the cave with Dynamite!? Soon after the village was better, they cleared rubble & started worshipping again...lesson learned: When in doubt & prairs don't work?...Use TNT.
2nd stop Xiang cave/turtle lake...no turtles in sight, cold water & a dark cave...youptiedou...nice views though.Afterwards it was on to the Buddha cave, a small cave about 20m up high in a cliff-face where in 2004 a local found 300 little bronze buddha statues overlooking the rice paddies below. It soon brought tourist$, worshippers & a good road to the small village...the cave & statues itself...not sooooooo impressive to be honest, hell we don't worship.
Lots of frozen juices (to barely try to keep cool) and chocolat/caramel/wafer cookies we settled down for noodle soup & Lao beer on the Mekong waterfront looking at the sun going down over Thailand. Life is good.
02/03: Following the Mekong again, almost. (+113; 4159km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Not made it into Thakaek before 1pm...didn't really get up at 5am either...more like 6am...so we made it to Thakaek at around 2-3pm ;-) Not wanting to trail the Highway 13 we decided on a secondary road more alongside the Mekong. First 10km out of S. it all good, then it turns into a dirt trail for about 5km, then back into a nicely packed dirt rd for 20km. The only thing they 'forgot' to finish on this bit are the bridges!? There is a clean 4m wide dirt packed rd with electricity lines running next to it, but every 5km it ends at a stream...luckily now is dry season & local use the road too so they have made some basic trails/crossings, steep ups&downs to the streams down below, but at least you can get past. Wouldn't try this rd in the wet season though. After that bit it turns back into a paved road in superb condition all the way into Thakaek. S. to Thakaek is around 105km, if you don't want to do this much there are guesthouses at around 58km & 70km. Both looked fairly new.
Noodle soup lunch (and a tasty one to boot!), drinkstops every 15km (**** it's hot!, luckily we can get some #10 Kaka soda's; see pic) & a small sightseeing at Wat Patat...yup, patat was about all what happend till we got to Thakaek. At first sight looks like a more relaxed place than S., cleaner, more "lived" & spiced up with a nice riverfront lined with bars & restaurant. Also met up with 5 other bikers! 1 german guy touring a couple week holiday, who also agreed it was really hot, too hot even. Then we also crossed a couple with their 2 kids that have been riding for about 4 months and will go on for another 3 months. Each had a kid trailing their bike...wouldn't want to drag that up a mountain together with the bags...;-)
Tomorrow we stay here for 1 day. Rent a moto, do a tour of the surronding caves & lakes. After that back on the bike, making our way towards Vientiane.
Picasa Album
Not made it into Thakaek before 1pm...didn't really get up at 5am either...more like 6am...so we made it to Thakaek at around 2-3pm ;-) Not wanting to trail the Highway 13 we decided on a secondary road more alongside the Mekong. First 10km out of S. it all good, then it turns into a dirt trail for about 5km, then back into a nicely packed dirt rd for 20km. The only thing they 'forgot' to finish on this bit are the bridges!? There is a clean 4m wide dirt packed rd with electricity lines running next to it, but every 5km it ends at a stream...luckily now is dry season & local use the road too so they have made some basic trails/crossings, steep ups&downs to the streams down below, but at least you can get past. Wouldn't try this rd in the wet season though. After that bit it turns back into a paved road in superb condition all the way into Thakaek. S. to Thakaek is around 105km, if you don't want to do this much there are guesthouses at around 58km & 70km. Both looked fairly new. Noodle soup lunch (and a tasty one to boot!), drinkstops every 15km (**** it's hot!, luckily we can get some #10 Kaka soda's; see pic) & a small sightseeing at Wat Patat...yup, patat was about all what happend till we got to Thakaek. At first sight looks like a more relaxed place than S., cleaner, more "lived" & spiced up with a nice riverfront lined with bars & restaurant. Also met up with 5 other bikers! 1 german guy touring a couple week holiday, who also agreed it was really hot, too hot even. Then we also crossed a couple with their 2 kids that have been riding for about 4 months and will go on for another 3 months. Each had a kid trailing their bike...wouldn't want to drag that up a mountain together with the bags...;-)Tomorrow we stay here for 1 day. Rent a moto, do a tour of the surronding caves & lakes. After that back on the bike, making our way towards Vientiane.
01/03: Savannakhet outskirts & a sweet bike repair shop (+38; 4046km)
Route with pics
Picasa Album
Spotted a modern equipment looking bikeshop in a street around the plaza in front of the church. Went there first thing this morning 'cause we had some potential fixes on our bikes. They have been really good for 4000km, but after that kind of riding it's pretty normal to have some wear-n-tear. Line had a somewhat loose casette lockring for the last days, but we couldn't find a shop with a lockring socket anywhere in Vietnam. No problem for this shop 'cause they have all the 'modern' tools needed for fixing your euro/US/jap bike. The lockring was tightened quickly & they also had a hollow bottom bracket for a measly 6usd so this part was also quickly replaced on Ardan"s bike. For some reason I just keep wasting (leftside) bottombracket bearings?? Same happens after about 2000km on my mtb & on my roadbike it's more around 4000km. Normal wear or is my left leg motion/strength causing good ol' shimano to fail? Anyway, if you need repair while in Savannakhet, Laos: Holien Bike Center.
Bikes back in shape so we headed to the outskirts toward some lake & stupa. At mid-day it got hot, too hot. Especially for Ardan who just needed to lay down in some drinking hut alongside the lake & just nap, drink, watch the buffalo's a bit till the temperature went down so we could bike back to town. Finished our rest day with some chocolade pudding roll & fruit. Also clearly learned a lesson for the remaining bike days...we have to start early. Really early! Daybreak early to be specific. So the alarm will ring at 5am tomorrow allowing us hopefully to make it to Thakhek before 1pm.
Picasa Album
Spotted a modern equipment looking bikeshop in a street around the plaza in front of the church. Went there first thing this morning 'cause we had some potential fixes on our bikes. They have been really good for 4000km, but after that kind of riding it's pretty normal to have some wear-n-tear. Line had a somewhat loose casette lockring for the last days, but we couldn't find a shop with a lockring socket anywhere in Vietnam. No problem for this shop 'cause they have all the 'modern' tools needed for fixing your euro/US/jap bike. The lockring was tightened quickly & they also had a hollow bottom bracket for a measly 6usd so this part was also quickly replaced on Ardan"s bike. For some reason I just keep wasting (leftside) bottombracket bearings?? Same happens after about 2000km on my mtb & on my roadbike it's more around 4000km. Normal wear or is my left leg motion/strength causing good ol' shimano to fail? Anyway, if you need repair while in Savannakhet, Laos: Holien Bike Center.
Bikes back in shape so we headed to the outskirts toward some lake & stupa. At mid-day it got hot, too hot. Especially for Ardan who just needed to lay down in some drinking hut alongside the lake & just nap, drink, watch the buffalo's a bit till the temperature went down so we could bike back to town. Finished our rest day with some chocolade pudding roll & fruit. Also clearly learned a lesson for the remaining bike days...we have to start early. Really early! Daybreak early to be specific. So the alarm will ring at 5am tomorrow allowing us hopefully to make it to Thakhek before 1pm.
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)